The French President has published a report attacking GDP as a measure of progress. “Our economy is supposed to increase our well-being; it is not an end in itself,” said Stiglitz at the launch of the report, commissioned by Sarkozy last year. GDP statistics were introduced to measure market economic activity. But they are increasingly thought of as a measure of societal well-being, which they are not.”
I am not generally a fan of Sarkozy, but he has it absolutely right when it comes to the inadequacies of GDP. Vive la France! Nathaniel, the protagonist of the novel I largely wrote when I lived in Paris, would approve!
Bill Wilson and myself have long been campaigning for alternative measures of economic growth. See, in particular, this article in the Scottish Left Review.
À bientôt
Eric
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